Breaking news

Trouble in paradise, campers. One of the big budget implementation bills (the one with the fund transfers) went down in flames in the House and had to be pulled out of the record. The appropriations bill was also pulled out of the record before a vote could be called.

The mushrooms are revolting. We'll see how long they hold out.

UPDATE: It looks like the stand-alone bimp bill that would wipe out the Illinois Student Assistance Commission could be headed for defeat. As I told Capitol Fax readers this morning, the budget isn't based on the money the state would receive from selling off ISAC's assets and laying off 500 employees. That fact has undermined the bill's potential for success - which was never great anyway.

UPDATE 2: Appears the problem has been worked out with the Black Caucus and the bimp bill will proceed. Not sure yet what sort of deal was worked out.

UPDATE 3: You guys are amazing. I was so busy with session that I didn't have time for the blog, but the commenters filled in many of the blanks. I'm proud to have you people post here. Thank you.

School funding

Here's the latest document I have about how school funding will be divvied up next fiscal year.



$10 million was removed for "fast growth" school districts.

Question of the day

Were you right or wrong about your earlier prediction of whether the General Assembly would adjourn on time? Be honest. Explain what happened.

Quote of the year - 1995

Here is that 1995 quote from state Rep. Rod Blagojevich that I referenced in today's Capitol Fax:

“Certainly you’ve heard a lot of discussions about frivolous lawsuits, but I think everybody would agree that the Bill that you are proposing that we pass deals with substantial injuries….There’s something even larger here that underscores everything that we do, and that is jury trials. Our system of government is predicated on jury trials.

Thomas Jefferson said jury trials are more important to the establishment of democracy than free elections. We here in this body, if we pass this law, are seeking to regulate what citizens on a jury would say with regard to a decision that affects another citizen…We’re telling juries, that we are in part today going to – going to decide future verdicts because you can’t go beyond $500,000 in certain cases.”

Funds transfers

As promised in the Capitol Fax today, here are just about all of the funds transfers that I could find in SB661, one of the budget implementation bills:

Food and Drug Safety Fund..............................$3,249
Financial Institution Fund............................$12,942
General Professions Dedicated Fund.....................$8,579
Illinois Department of Agriculture
Laboratory Services Revolving Fund...................$1,963
Illinois Veterans' Rehabilitation Fund................$11,275
State Boating Act Fund................................$27,000
State Parks Fund......................................$22,007
Agricultural Premium Fund.............................$59,483
Fire Prevention Fund..................................$29,862
Mental Health Fund....................................$78,213
Illinois State Pharmacy Disciplinary Fund..............$2,744
Radiation Protection Fund.............................$16,034
Solid Waste Management Fund...........................$37,669
Illinois Gaming Law Enforcement Fund...................$7,260
Subtitle D Management Fund.............................$4,659
Illinois State Medical Disciplinary Fund...............$8,602
Department of Children and
Family Services Training Fund.........................$29,906
Facility Licensing Fund................................$1,083
Youth Alcoholism and Substance
Abuse Prevention Fund..................................$2,783
Plugging and Restoration Fund..........................$1,105
State Crime Laboratory Fund............................$1,353
Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Trust Fund..............$9,190
Weights and Measures Fund..............................$4,932
Solid Waste Management Revolving
Loan Fund..............................................$2,735
Illinois School Asbestos Abatement Fund................$2,166
Violence Prevention Fund...............................$5,176
Capital Development Board Revolving Fund..............$14,777
DCFS Children's Services Fund......................$1,256,594
State Police DUI Fund..................................$1,434
Illinois Health Facilities Planning Fund...............$3,191
Emergency Public Health Fund...........................$7,996
Fair and Exposition Fund...............................$3,732
Nursing Dedicated and Professional Fund................$5,792
Optometric Licensing and Disciplinary Board Fund.......$1,032
Underground Resources Conservation Enforcement Fund....$1,221
State Rail Freight Loan Repayment Fund.................$6,434
Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Fund..............$5,473
Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Fund...............$118,222
Community Water Supply Laboratory Fund................$10,021
Used Tire Management Fund.............................$17,524
Natural Areas Acquisition Fund........................$15,501
Open Space Lands Acquisition
and Development Fund..................................$49,105
Working Capital Revolving Fund.......................$126,344
State Garage Revolving Fund...........................$92,513
Statistical Services Revolving Fund..................$181,949
Paper and Printing Revolving Fund......................$3,632
Air Transportation Revolving Fund......................$1,969
Communications Revolving Fund........................$304,278
Environmental Laboratory Certification Fund............$1,357
Public Health Laboratory Services Revolving Fund.......$5,892
Provider Inquiry Trust Fund............................$1,742
Lead Poisoning Screening,
Prevention, and Abatement Fund.........................$8,200
Drug Treatment Fund...................................$14,028
Feed Control Fund......................................$2,472
Plumbing Licensure and Program Fund....................$3,521
Insurance Premium Tax Refund Fund......................$7,872
Tax Compliance and Administration Fund.................$5,416
Appraisal Administration Fund..........................$2,924
Trauma Center Fund....................................$40,139
Alternate Fuels Fund...................................$1,467
Illinois State Fair Fund..............................$13,844
State Asset Forfeiture Fund............................$8,210
Federal Asset Forfeiture Fund..........................$6,471
Department of Corrections Reimbursement
and Education Fund....................................$78,965
Health Facility Plan Review Fund.......................$3,444
LEADS Maintenance Fund.................................$6,075
State Offender DNA Identification
System Fund............................................$1,712
Illinois Historic Sites Fund...........................$4,511
Public Pension Regulation Fund.........................$2,313
Workforce, Technology, and Economic
Development Fund.......................................$5,357
Renewable Energy Resources Trust Fund.................$29,920
Energy Efficiency Trust Fund...........................$8,368
Pesticide Control Fund.................................$6,687
Conservation 2000 Fund................................$30,764
Wireless Carrier Reimbursement Fund...................$91,024
International Tourism Fund............................$13,057
Public Transportation Fund...........................$701,837
Horse Racing Fund.....................................$18,589
Death Certificate Surcharge Fund.......................$1,901
State Police Wireless Service
Emergency Fund.........................................$1,012
Downstate Public Transportation Fund.................$112,085
Motor Carrier Safety Inspection Fund...................$6,543
State Police Whistleblower Reward
and Protection Fund....................................$1,894
Illinois Standardbred Breeders Fund....................$4,412
Illinois Thoroughbred Breeders Fund....................$6,635
Illinois Clean Water Fund.............................$17,579
Independent Academic Medical Center Fund...............$5,611
Child Support Administrative Fund....................$432,527
Corporate Headquarters Relocation
Assistance Fund........................................$4,047
Local Initiative Fund.................................$58,762
Tourism Promotion Fund................................$88,072
Digital Divide Elimination Fund.......................$11,593
Presidential Library and Museum Operating Fund.........$4,624
Metro-East Public Transportation Fund.................$47,787
Medical Special Purposes Trust Fund...................$11,779
Dram Shop Fund........................................$11,317
Illinois State Dental Disciplinary Fund................$1,986
Hazardous Waste Research Fund..........................$1,333
Real Estate License Administration Fund...............$10,886
Traffic and Criminal Conviction
Surcharge Fund........................................$44,798
Criminal Justice Information
Systems Trust Fund.....................................$5,693
Design Professionals Administration
and Investigation Fund.................................$2,036State Surplus Property Revolving Fund..................$6,829
Illinois Forestry Development Fund.....................$7,012
State Police Services Fund............................$47,072
Youth Drug Abuse Prevention Fund.......................$1,299
Metabolic Screening and Treatment Fund................$15,947
Insurance Producer Administration Fund................$30,870
Coal Technology Development Assistance Fund...........$43,692
Rail Freight Loan Repayment Fund.......................$1,016
Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Facility Development and Operation Fund..............$1,989
Environmental Protection Permit and Inspection Fund...$32,125
Park and Conservation Fund............................$41,038
Local Tourism Fund....................................$34,492
Illinois Capital Revolving Loan Fund..................$10,624
Illinois Equity Fund...................................$1,929
Large Business Attraction Fund.........................$5,554
Illinois Beach Marina Fund.............................$5,053
International and Promotional Fund.....................$1,466
Public Infrastructure Construction
Loan Revolving Fund....................................$3,111
Insurance Financial Regulation Fund...................$42,575
Total $4,975,487

[...]

Notwithstanding any other provision of State law to
the contrary, on or after July 1, 2005 and until June 30, 2006,
in addition to any other transfers that may be provided for by
law, at the direction of and upon notification of the Director
of Central Management Services, the State Comptroller shall
direct and the State Treasurer shall transfer amounts into the
Workers' Compensation Revolving Fund from the designated funds
not exceeding the following totals:
Mental Health Fund................................$17,694,000
Statistical Services Revolving Fund................$1,252,600
Department of Corrections Reimbursement
and Education Fund.................................$1,198,600
Communications Revolving Fund........................$535,400
Child Support Administrative Fund....................$441,900
Health Insurance Reserve Fund........................$238,900
Fire Prevention Fund.................................$234,100
Park and Conservation Fund...........................$142,000
Motor Fuel Tax Fund..................................$132,800
Illinois Workers' Compensation
Commission Operations Fund...........................$123,900
State Boating Act Fund...............................$112,300
Public Utility Fund..................................$106,500
State Lottery Fund...................................$101,300
Traffic and Criminal Conviction
Surcharge Fund........................................$88,500
State Surplus Property Revolving Fund.................$82,700
Natural Areas Acquisition Fund........................$65,600
Securities Audit and Enforcement Fund.................$65,200
Agricultural Premium Fund.............................$63,400
Capital Development Fund..............................$57,500
State Gaming Fund.....................................$54,300
Underground Storage Tank Fund.........................$53,700
Illinois State Medical Disciplinary Fund..............$53,000
Personal Property Tax Replacement Fund................$53,000
General Professions Dedicated Fund....................$51,900
Total $23,003,100

[...]

the State Comptroller shall direct and
the State Treasurer shall transfer the remaining balance from
the designated funds into the General Revenue Fund and any
future deposits that would otherwise be made into these funds
must instead be made into the General Revenue Fund:
(1) the Keep Illinois Beautiful Fund;
(2) the Metropolitan Fair and Exposition Authority
Reconstruction Fund;
(3) the New Technology Recovery Fund;
(4) the Illinois Rural Bond Bank Trust Fund;
(5) the ISBE School Bus Driver Permit Fund;
(6) the Solid Waste Management Revolving Loan Fund;
(7) the State Postsecondary Review Program Fund;
(8) the Tourism Attraction Development Matching Grant
Fund;
(9) the Patent and Copyright Fund;
(10) the Credit Enhancement Development Fund;
(11) the Community Mental Health and Developmental
Disabilities Services Provider Participation Fee Trust
Fund;
(12) the Nursing Home Grant Assistance Fund;
(13) the By-product Material Safety Fund;
(14) the Illinois Student Assistance Commission Higher
EdNet Fund;
(15) the DORS State Project Fund;
(16) the School Technology Revolving Fund;
(17) the Energy Assistance Contribution Fund;
(18) the Illinois Building Commission Revolving Fund;
(19) the Illinois Aquaculture Development Fund;
(20) the Homelessness Prevention Fund;
(21) the DCFS Refugee Assistance Fund;
(22) the Illinois Century Network Special Purposes
Fund; and
(23) the Build Illinois Purposes Fund

[...]

Sec. 8.44. Special fund transfers.
(a) In order to maintain the integrity of special funds and
improve stability in the General Revenue Fund, the following
transfers are authorized from the designated funds into the
General Revenue Fund:
Aeronautics Fund......................................$2,186
.Aggregate Operations Regulatory Fund.................$32,750
.Agrichemical Incident Response Trust Fund...........$419,830
.Agricultural Master Fund.............................$17,827
.Air Transportation Revolving Fund...................$181,478
.Airport Land Loan Revolving Fund..................$1,669,970
.Alternate Fuels Fund..............................$1,056,833
.Alternative Compliance Market Account Fund...........$53,120
.Appraisal Administration Fund.......................$250,000
.Armory Rental Fund..................................$111,538
.Assisted Living and Shared Housing Regulatory Fund...$24,493
.Bank and Trust Company Fund.......................$3,800,000
.Capital Development Board Revolving Fund............$453,054
.Capital Litigation Trust Fund.....................$2,247,624
.Care Provider Fund for Persons
with a Developmental Disability...................$2,378,270
.Charter Schools Revolving Loan Fund.................$650,721
.Child Support Administrative Fund.................$1,117,266
.Coal Mining Regulatory Fund.........................$127,583
.Communications Revolving Fund....................$12,999,839
.Community Health Center Care Fund...................$104,480
.Community Water Supply Laboratory Fund..............$716,232
.Continuing Legal Education Trust Fund................$23,419
.Corporate Franchise Tax Refund Fund.................$500,000
.Court of Claims Administration and Grant Fund........$24,949
.Criminal Justice Information Projects Fund...........$18,212
.DCFS Special Purposes Trust Fund.....................$77,835
.Death Certificate Surcharge Fund..................$1,134,341
.Department of Business Services
Special Operations Fund...........................$2,000,000
.Department of Children and Family Services
Training Fund.....................................$1,408,106
.Department of Corrections
Reimbursement and Education Fund..................$2,208,323
.Department of Insurance State Trust Fund.............$18,009
.Department of Labor Special State Trust Fund........$359,895
.Department on Aging State Projects Fund..............$10,059
.Design Professionals Administration
and Investigation Fund...............................$51,701
.DHS Recoveries Trust Fund.........................$1,591,834
.DHS State Projects Fund..............................$89,917
.Division of Corporations
Registered Limited Liability Partnership Fund.......$150,000
.DNR Special Projects Fund...........................$301,649
.Dram Shop Fund......................................$110,554
.Drivers Education Fund...............................$30,152
.Drug Rebate Fund.................................$17,315,821
.Drug Traffic Prevention Fund.........................$22,123
.Drug Treatment Fund.................................$160,030
.Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Fund............$51,220
.Drycleaner Environmental Response Trust Fund......$1,137,971
.DuQuoin State Fair Harness Racing Trust Fund..........$3,368
.Early Intervention Services Revolving Fund........$1,044,935
.Economic Research and Information Fund...............$49,005
.Educational Labor Relations Board
Fair Share Trust Fund................................$40,933
.Efficiency Initiatives Revolving Fund.............$6,178,298
.Emergency Planning and Training Fund.................$28,845
.Emergency Public Health Fund........................$139,997
.Emergency Response Reimbursement Fund................$15,873
.EMS Assistance Fund..................................$40,923
.Energy Assistance Contribution Fund..................$89,692
.Energy Efficiency Trust Fund......................$1,300,938
.Environmental Laboratory Certification Fund..........$62,039
.Environmental Protection Permit and Inspection Fund.$180,571
.Environmental Protection Trust Fund...............$2,228,031
.EPA Court Trust Fund................................$338,646
.EPA Special State Projects Trust Fund...............$284,263
.Explosives Regulatory Fund...........................$23,125
.Facilities Management Revolving Fund..............$4,803,971
.Facility Licensing Fund..............................$22,958
.Family Care Fund.....................................$22,585
.Family Responsibility Fund............................$4,747
.Federal Asset Forfeiture Fund.........................$1,871
.Feed Control Fund...................................$478,234
.Fertilizer Control Fund.............................$207,398
.Financial Institution Fund........................$2,448,690
.Firearm Owner's Notification Fund.....................$3,960
.Food and Drug Safety Fund...........................$421,401
.General Professions Dedicated Fund................$3,975,808
.Good Samaritan Energy Trust Fund......................$7,191
.Governor's Grant Fund.................................$1,592
.Group Workers' Compensation Pool Insolvency Fund....$136,547
.Guardianship and Advocacy Fund.......................$27,289
.Hazardous Waste Occupational Licensing Fund..........$14,939
.Hazardous Waste Research Fund.......................$125,209
.Health Facility Plan Review Fund....................$165,972
.Hearing Instrument Dispenser
.Examining and Disciplinary Fund.....................$102,842
.Home Inspector Administration Fund..................$244,5
.IEMA State Projects Fund.................................$13
.Illinois and Michigan Canal Fund.....................$11,944
.Illinois Beach Marina Fund..........................$177,801
.Illinois Capital Revolving Loan Fund..............$4,024,106
.Illinois Clean Water Fund.........................$1,835,796
.Illinois Community College Board
Contracts and Grants Fund.................................$9
.Illinois Department of Agriculture
Laboratory Services Revolving Fund..................$174,795
.Illinois Equity Fund................................$119,193
.Illinois Executive Mansion Trust Fund................$56,154
.Illinois Forestry Development Fund................$1,389,096
.Illinois Future Teacher Corps Scholarship Fund........$4,836
.Illinois Gaming Law Enforcement Fund................$650,646
.Illinois Habitat Endowment Trust Fund.............$3,641,262
.Illinois Health Facilities Planning Fund.............$23,066
.Illinois Historic Sites Fund........................$134,366
.Illinois National Guard Armory Construction Fund.....$31,469
.Illinois Rural Rehabilitation Fund....................$8,190
.Illinois School Asbestos Abatement Fund.............$183,191
.Illinois State Fair Fund.............................$50,176
.Illinois State Podiatric Disciplinary Fund..........$317,239
.Illinois Student Assistance Commission
Contracts and Grants Fund.............................$5,589
.Illinois Tourism Tax Fund...........................$647,749
.Illinois Underground Utility Facilities
Damage Prevention Fund................................$2,175
.Illinois Veterans' Rehabilitation Fund..............$218,940
.Industrial Hygiene Regulatory and Enforcement Fund....$3,564
.Innovations in Long-Term Care
Quality Demonstration Grants Fund...................$565,494
.Insurance Financial Regulation Fund.................$800,000
.ISAC Accounts Receivable Fund........................$26,374
.ISBE GED Testing Fund...............................$146,196
.ISBE Teacher Certificate Institute Fund.............$122,117
.J.J. Wolf Memorial for Conservation Investigation Fund.$8,137
.Kaskaskia Commons Permanent Fund.....................$79,813
.Land Reclamation Fund................................$30,582
.Large Business Attraction Fund......................$340,777
.Lawyers' Assistance Program Fund....................$198,207
.LEADS Maintenance Fund...............................$76,981
.Lieutenant Governor's Grant Fund........................$188
.Livestock Management Facilities Fund.................$47,800
.Lobbyist Registration Administration Fund............$86,552
.Local Initiative Fund.............................$1,940,646
.Local Tourism Fund..................................$132,876
.Long Term Care Monitor/Receiver Fund................$427,850
.Low-Level Radioactive Waste Facility
Development and Operation Fund.......................$16,353
.Mammogram Fund.......................................$14,229
.Monetary Award Program Reserve Fund.................$879,700
.Master Mason Fund....................................$13,199
.McCormick Place Expansion Project Fund....................$0
.Medicaid Buy-In Program Revolving Fund..............$318,894
.Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Prevention Fund.............$60,306
.Medical Special Purposes Trust Fund.................$930,668
.Military Affairs Trust Fund..........................$68,468
.Motor Carrier Safety Inspection Fund................$147,477
.Motor Fuel and Petroleum Standards Fund..............$19,673
.Motor Vehicle Review Board Fund.....................$250,000
.Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Trust Fund.........$1,415,361
.Narcotics Profit Forfeiture Fund.....................$39,379
.Natural Heritage Endowment Trust Fund...............$557,264
.Natural Heritage Fund.................................$3,336
.Natural Resources Information Fund...................$64,596
.Natural Resources Restoration Trust Fund.............$63,002
.Off-Highway Vehicle Trails Fund.....................$244,815
.Oil Spill Response Fund.............................$167,547
.Paper and Printing Revolving Fund....................$48,476
.Park and Conservation Fund........................$3,050,154
.Park District Youth Program Fund......................$4,899
.Pawnbroker Regulation Fund...........................$94,131
.Pesticide Control Fund..............................$420,223
.Pet Overpopulation Control Fund......................$37,114
.Petroleum Resources Revolving Fund...................$85,540
.Police Memorial Committee Fund.......................$16,147
.Police Training Board Services Fund...................$1,540
.Pollution Control Board Fund.........................$23,004
.Pollution Control Board Trust Fund..................$410,651
.Post Transplant Maintenance and Retention Fund.......$75,100
.Presidential Library and Museum Operating Fund......$727,250
.Professional Regulation Evidence Fund.................$2,817
.Professional Services Fund...........................$46,222
.Provider Inquiry Trust Fund.........................$207,098
.Public Aid Recoveries Trust Fund..................$7,610,631
.Public Health Laboratory Services Revolving Fund.....$92,276
.Public Health Special State Projects Fund...........$816,202
.Public Health Water Permit Fund......................$17,624
.Public Infrastructure Construction
Loan Revolving Fund..................................$63,802
.Public Pension Regulation Fund......................$222,433
.Racing Board Fingerprint License Fund................$16,835
.Radiation Protection Fund...........................$212,010
.Real Estate License Administration Fund...........$1,500,000
.Regulatory Evaluation and Basic Enforcement Fund.....$64,221
.Regulatory Fund......................................$55,246
.Renewable Energy Resources Trust Fund................$14,033
.Response Contractors Indemnification Fund...............$126
.Rural/Downstate Health Access Fund....................$4,644
.Safety Responsibility Fund..........................$577,255
.Savings and Residential Finance Regulatory Fund...$5,200,000
.School District Emergency Financial Assistance Fund.$2,130,848
.School Technology Revolving Loan Fund................$19,158
.Second Injury Fund..................................$151,493
.Secretary of State Interagency Grant Fund............$40,900
.Secretary of State Special License Plate Fund.......$520,200
.Secretary of State Special Services Fund..........$2,500,000
.Securities Audit and Enforcement Fund.............$3,400,000
.Securities Investors Education Fund.................$100,000
.Self-Insurers Administration Fund...................$286,964
.Sex Offender Registration Fund........................$7,647
.Sexual Assault Services Fund.........................$12,210
.Small Business Environmental Assistance Fund.........$13,686
.Snowmobile Trail Establishment Fund...................$3,124
.Solid Waste Management Fund.......................$6,587,173
.Sports Facilities Tax Trust Fund..................$1,112,590
.State Appellate Defender Special State Projects Fund.$23,820
.State Asset Forfeiture Fund..........................$71,988
.State Boating Act Fund..............................$401,824
.State College and University Trust Fund.............$139,439
.State Crime Laboratory Fund..........................$44,965
.State Fair Promotional Activities Fund................$8,734
.State Garage Revolving Fund.........................$639,662
.State Offender DNA Identification System Fund........$81,740
.State Off-Set Claims Fund.........................$1,487,926
.State Parking Facility Maintenance Fund..............$97,956
.State Parks Fund..................................$1,045,889
.State Police DUI Fund...............................$114,645
.State Police Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Fund....$164,843
.State Police Services Fund..........................$792,235
.State Police Vehicle Fund............................$22,899
.State Police Whistleblower Reward and Protection Fund.$199,699
.State Rail Freight Loan Repayment Fund............$1,147,727
.State Surplus Property Revolving Fund...............$388,284
.State Whistleblower Reward and Protection Fund........$1,592
.State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's County Fund.$70,101
.Statewide Grand Jury Prosecution Fund.................$7,645
.Statistical Services Revolving Fund...............$4,847,783
.Subtitle D Management Fund..........................$169,744
.Tanning Facility Permit Fund.........................$64,571
.Tax Compliance and Administration Fund..............$429,377
.Tax Recovery Fund...................................$113,591
.Teacher Certificate Fee Revolving Fund..............$982,399
.Toxic Pollution Prevention Fund......................$28,534
.Traffic and Criminal Conviction Surcharge Fund....$1,382,347
.Transportation Safety Highway Hire-back Fund.........$22,650
.Underground Resources Conservation Enforcement Fund.$294,251
.University Grant Fund................................$23,881
.Used Tire Management Fund.........................$1,918,500
.Violence Prevention Fund............................$146,576
.Watershed Park Fund..................................$19,786
.Weights and Measures Fund.........................$1,078,121
.Workers' Compensation Benefit Trust Fund............$266,574
.Workers' Compensation Revolving Fund................$520,285
.Working Capital Revolving Fund....................$1,404,868
.Youth Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Prevention Fund.$29,995
.Youth Drug Abuse Prevention Fund.......................$4,091

A note to my readers

I need to fill you in on a couple of important items:

1) The anonymous commenter who claimed yesterday that I was the loser in a $1.5 million lawsuit was so wrong as to be laughable. Trust me on this one, nothing of the sort happened. I am hoping my attorneys will rip this person to tiny little shreds and extract every dollar possible. My friend, you are busted.

2) I was able to identify the aforementioned libeler because I have upgraded my tracking software, so if anyone posts something naughty I can generally find out who they are. I won't toss you over if you stay within the boundaries of decency, but if you stray too far then you're going right under the bus. No exceptions. Period. Done. You also run the risk of being publicly outed, by name, right here.

As one commenter wisely pointed out, anonymity should be used as a shield, not a sword.

I never would have taken this step if the problem hadn't gotten out of hand. I won't give up the identities of anonymous posters who have legit gripes. This warning is for the handful of jerks who can't seem to control themselves. You know who you are. Stop it now or face the consequences.

The era of personal attacks is over.

And, by the way, if the nutballs start using blocking software, then I'll move to another blog program that will allow me to pre-approve commenters by IP address. Either way, this will end.

Have a nice day.

- Rich

Deadline

Lawyers are rushing to beat the deadline:

Attorneys are furiously filing medical malpractice lawsuits in Cook County in a race to beat Gov. Blagojevich's signature on a bill that caps awards in such cases.

Since legislative leaders announced a deal on caps last Wednesday, 58 medical malpractice lawsuits have been filed in Cook County -- three to four times the number normally filed. [...]

With attorneys filing so many last-minute medical malpractice cases, "we can't answer to either our physicians or the public as to when they can expect to see a decrease or stabilization in their rates and, in fact, they may see an increase because [new] cases require the expenditure of more money," Backs said.

Loggans -- who said her firm will likely file a half dozen more medical malpractice cases in Cook County this week -- admitted "this new law will make the career of every defense lawyer" who represents doctors and hospitals.

"There will be a deluge of these" last-minute suits, she said. "There's going to be so many, and there's only a few who do large malpractice defense."

Question of the day

Choose your winners and losers for this legislative session. Try to include both in your comments, please.

The credibility gap

I missed Rick Pearson's Tribune analysis piece yesterday. It's very good.

Money is always thought to be the pre-eminent factor in politics, and Blagojevich has plenty of it, at least $10 million if not close to double that given his voracious fundraising appetite.

Yet it is credibility that often is the real currency of a politician.

Have plenty of it, and a politician can rally not only his base, but generate strong grass-roots appeal for his election or policies that transcend the usual boundaries of partisan politics.

Have too little of it, and the politician might as well pack the bags and go home.

That is the issue confronting Blagojevich, the state's first Democratic governor in more than a quarter century, with the beginning of the next campaign for governor not far away.

Read the whole thing.

The Daily Herald's Eric Krol also had a fine look-see over the weekend at the governor's record.

During the past three months, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has made high-profile pitches to raise the cigarette tax, double the size of casinos, reform campaign finance laws and completely overhaul the state’s pension system.

As the General Assembly prepares to adjourn Tuesday, none of the four appears likely to become reality. [...]

“I’d call this a very successful session, and contrary to your characterization I feel all pumped up,” Blagojevich said Saturday.

Still, the normally gregarious governor — just two weeks ago he was famously bragging about his “testicular virility” — has remained mostly behind closed doors as the session comes to a close with the exception of Saturday’s rare appearance to lobby senators on a road plan that failed [...]

Deputy Gov. Bradley Tusk called the session Blagojevich’s “best ever” and stressed that it’s important for the media and the public to separate the “means from the ends.”

Heh.

Pension stuff

If you're into that sort of thing, here is the full text of the pension raid/holiday/restructuring bill that passed both chambers yesterday.

And here is a Copley story about the plan, which you may find useful. Notice the headline, however:

"Lawmakers OK pension cuts"

That hed, skimmed by readers on a major national holiday, looks pretty good for the Democrats.

The lede is much more accurate:

Both the Illinois House and Senate narrowly approved a bill Sunday to divert more than $2.3 billion from state pensions over the next two years so it can be used instead to finance other state programs.

Blog update

I've added some Illinois blogs to the news feed section over on the right side of the page. I'm concerned that so many different feeds might slow down the page loading time too much, however, so this is just an experiement for a few days.

Weekend column

My Sunday column talks about the pension proposal and that poll taken by Judy Baar Topinka's campaign.

A survey of 1,000 registered Illinois voters taken a week ago Thursday showed Republican state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka leading Democratic Blagojevich by almost 10 percentage points.

The automated poll, paid for by the Topinka campaign, showed Topinka ahead of Blagojevich 45.8 to 36.4 percent, with 18 percent undecided. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.

The poll tracked with two recent surveys taken by the Tribune and SurveyUSA when it found that the governor's job approval rating was 34 percent, while his disapproval was 53 percent. Both the Trib and SurveyUSA had the gov's approval in the mid-30s, while SurveyUSA's disapproval was very close to Topinka's answer. The Tribune had his disapproval at 44 percent. SurveyUSA, like Topinka, polled registered voters, while the Tribune questioned likely voters.

The Topinka survey tracked fairly well with the Tribune poll by region. For instance, the Trib found that just 28 percent of downstaters want to see Blagojevich re-elected and 30 percent approved of his job performance. Topinka's poll found him with a 29.5 percent re-elect downstate and a 28 percent job approval rating. According to Topinka's poll, the governor led the treasurer in Chicago 62 to 22, but Topinka led everywhere else: 56 to 23 in the collar counties, 45 to 38.5 in suburban Cook and 53.5 to 29.5 in downstate.

Question of the day

As I reported in the Capitol Fax today, Sen. Steve Rauschenberger claims he'll have raised a fairly large pile of money (you'll have to subscribe to see the amount) by June 30th.

Does Rauschenberger run for governor? Why or why not? Might he run for something else? What? Remember, he has to give up his seat to run statewide next year.

Not happy

The Herald & Review edit board members are not happy with the governor.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich's Opportunity Returns program for Central Illinois has become more like "I'll never return."

The governor was scheduled to announce his economic development program for the 10-county area that includes Decatur on Feb. 7. That trip was canceled because of bad weather. [...]

At the time the Feb. 7 event was canceled, the governor's staff said it would be rescheduled in a couple of weeks.

We're approaching four months, and the governor hasn't been back. He told our State Capital Bureau reporter Matt Adrian recently he hasn't had time to reschedule the Decatur visit because he's been too busy. "It's an issue of timing," Blagojevich said.

Oh, please.

Read the whole thing. Entertainment level: 7.4 out of 10.

Election changes

This is probably Hula Man's DJW's turf, but I'll link to the AP story here and he can explain it more later.

Lawmakers sent Gov. Rod Blagojevich an election overhaul package Saturday that Republicans complained would open the door to voter fraud.

The package, which passed the House on a 62-51 vote Saturday, would require the creation of voters' guides, time off from work for voting in some circumstances, the inclusion of voter information in college registration materials, and the availability of online voter registration through state agency Web sites.

Republicans howled that it was weighted in favor of Democrats; for example, labor unions would be exempt from state rules that require registration of nonprofit agencies for election activities. [...]

Others objected to a provision that would let lawmakers hand out voter registration forms in their offices, which they say would open the door to illegal campaigning. Another section would require businesses to give time off for voting to employees who work through regular polling times.

UPDATE: Dan comes up with an analysis.

Reforming the system

The pension raid/holiday/adjustment is not a good idea. However, lost in most of the discussion are the pension reforms that have been included.

State lawmakers are poised to greatly curtail the fat, end-of-career pay increases served up by some suburban school boards to inflate the pensions of top administrators.

As part of a broad reform of teacher pensions, the new plan would limit the perk to a 6 percent yearly salary increase, down from the current 20 percent limit. Lawmakers from both parties called the change overdue.

"It's been out there. It's been an issue. It's an abuse, there's no question about it," said state Sen. Dan Cronin of Elmhurst, the top Republican on the Senate Education Committee. [...]

School districts will pay 23.5 percent for every year of service the teacher needs to make up to retire early, up from 20 percent, while teachers will pay 11.5 percent per year, up from 7 percent. For the first time, all teachers will pay 0.4 percent into their pension system to ensure the early retirement option continues. Should they decide not to take early retirement, they'll get that money back without interest.

School districts also will be able to limit early retirement to 10 percent of teachers eligible in a given year, down from 30 percent. [...]

Cronin pointed out school districts could continue to give end-of-career bumps of greater than 6 percent, but they'd have to pick up the cost locally.

Republicans, by the way, say they haven't seen all of the reforms and don't know if they'll do what Democrats claim.

Managed care stuff

I wrote about this a little bit in today's Capitol Fax. From a press release:

A crowd of 300 supporters is expected to fill the Lawndale Community Church as physicians and representatives of managed care organizations serving Medicaid recipients urge Governor Blagojevich and the General Assembly to reject a provision in the pending state budget that would wipe out Illinois' Medicaid managed care program and balance the budget on the backs of some of the state's most vulnerable citizens. Medicaid patients will be denied choices in medical care and their access to care will be restricted.

Nearly 180,000 Medicaid recipients enrolled in managed care plans would be immediately transferred into the state's fee-for-service Medicaid program, creating hardships for patients and those who care for them. Illinois' fee-for-service program has failed Medicaid recipients, according to a recent federal court ruling.

Doctors who treat managed care patients will be especially hard hit, as they will not receive reimbursement for patient services for five months. Under this scenario, doctors with large Medicaid practices may not be able to stay open and Medicaid recipients will flood hospital emergency rooms.

If you read the Capitol Fax today, it was hard not to think that something just wasn't adding up about the administration's desire to get rid of this program.

Question of the day

With all the talk about how the Bush administration was paying columnists and distributing video news releases to TV stations, some of which labeled them as news stories, why hasn't anyone ever questioned IIS, the CMS radio news serice that distributes taxpayer funded articles to radio stations throughout Illinois?

And I wonder how many stations use the stories without identifying them as coming directly from the government? I know of at least two.

I have to admit, IIS stories are usually pretty good and its website is valuable, but should the state be directly subsidizing a news operation, not to mention subsidizing radio stations by allowing them to avoid hiring real reporters by using the government service? And should the stations run a disclaimer noting where those stories came from?

UPDATE: I want to stress again that I'm not really criticizing IIS here, which does a pretty good job, but radio stations that use government "news" without identifying it as such.

No surprise

Everyone, including Aaron Chambers of the Rockford Register-Star, seems surprised that House Speaker Michael Madigan would support this pension holiday plan.

The truly captivating twist was by Madigan. In early May, he proclaimed an alliance with Republicans and devotion to fiscal restraint. He said specifically that he wouldn't borrow to finance state operations. Of course, that's arguably what the pension raid amounts to.

The problem with that analysis is Madigan has been pushing a pension holiday plan since 2003. This is his idea.

I'm not trying to pick on Chambers here. Aaron is one of my favorite people at the Statehouse, he's a smart journalist and his column is always a great read (not to mention that he's a fantastic gourmet cook). He's far from being alone in his suprise, however, and that just doesn't match up with reality.

There is also no real mystery why Madigan's alliance with the House and Senate Republicans broke down this month. As I explained a couple of weeks ago in the Capitol Fax, the GOP refused to go along with the governor's proposed pension reforms which Madigan supported. That disagreement splintered the coalition.

Ignored

The Rockford Register Star runs an editorial blasting the Democrats' pension holiday that nobody will read. Doing a pension holiday over a holiday weekend assures that everything gets buried.

Quote of the day

From the Tribune:

After one of the more extraordinary debates of the day, the House sent the Senate the so-called family feud legislation that Blagojevich initiated over his dispute with Mell, alleging that his father-in-law was trading on the governor's name to promote a landfill owned by a distant relative.

The bill, which passed 77-16 with 23 voting "present," would make it easier for the state to close landfills deemed a threat to the public health or environment.

Yet the conflict-of-interest provisions drew the most attention, particularly the clause requiring any relative of the governor, attorney general or environmental officials to divest themselves of landfill ownership. Mell has denied he has any financial interest in the landfill.

"This is the type of thing that probably requires family counseling instead of putting it on the House floor here," said Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock).

Amen to that.

Oberweis at it again

Most polls show that Americans are not all that thrilled, to say the least, with giving benefits to undocumented aliens. The problem is, Jim Oberweis went so far overboard in the 2004 US Senate election that everything he says about the topic now just dredges up memories of his past remarks.

From a recent Daily Herald article.

Republican governor hopeful Jim Oberweis criticized lawmakers and universities for allowing illegal immigrants in Illinois to get in-state tuition rates.

“Why is it fair to give somebody who’s in this country illegally a lower tuition rate than somebody who happens to have been born and lives in Iowa or lives in Missouri or who lives in Indiana?” said Oberweis, an Aurora resident best known for his family dairy. “That doesn’t make any sense. It costs taxpayers large sums of money.”

He said the same thing — educating illegal immigrants — affects the state’s education system at all levels.

Immigration is a sore subject for Oberweis. A staunch anti-illegal immigration ad during his 2004 run for U.S. Senate largely backfired. [...]

“I hate to get back to an old topic,” he said before criticizing the in-state tuition deal.

Oberweis once compared pro-life activists to the Taliban and had to backtrack. His mouth is a problem, and don't expect that to get any better as the GOP gubernatorial primary advances.

Friday White Sox blogging

From the Daily Southtown:

Springfield may be a Cubs-Cardinals town, but only the White Sox have their own caucus.

In a city of Democrats and Republicans, representatives and senators, where common ground is sought but rarely attained and where ideological divisions permeate even the most stable of associations, lawmakers managed to create a new course of action.

The Chicago White Sox Springfield Caucus held its second annual meeting Wednesday night where members planned to elect new officers and forge an agenda for the coming year. Nevermind the "meeting" time was scheduled conveniently around the Sox' night game against the Angels and the location was a local watering hole. This was a splinter political group even House Speaker Michael Madigan could appreciate.

The "caucus" is led by state Rep. Joe Lyons (D-Chicago) who actually lives four miles from Wrigley Field. The caucus kindly tolerates him nonetheless.

His grandfather, an Irish immigrant, did some plumbing work on the original Comiskey Park. Because the "old Roman" Charles Comiskey was the only Catholic owner of the original 16 baseball teams – and because the Wrigley family was made up of "orange-men" from northern Ireland -- Lyons was raised a Sox fan in spite of his address.

"We didn't go to Wrigley Field," he said. [...]

The bipartisan caucus includes David Dring, spokesman for Republican House Leader Tom Cross, and boasts several South Side lawmakers as officers, including state Rep. George Scully (D-Flossmoor).

"When I was younger, it was 45 minutes to Comiskey and an hour and 20 minutes to that big beer garden on the North Side," Dring said. "I think that's why my father took me to Comiskey."

Go Sox.

Breaking news

David Rosen, a Chicago mega-fundraiser who has raised money for Gov. Blagojevich, Attorney General Madigan and Comptroller Hynes, was acquitted in federal court today.

The former national finance director for Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate campaign was acquitted Friday of lying to the government about a lavish 2000 Hollywood fundraising gala.

David Rosen was charged with two counts of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission about the cost of the star-studded gala, which attracted such celebrities as Cher, Melissa Ethridge, Toni Braxton, Diana Ross, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston.

Read a background story on Rosen's Illinois roots and activities here.

Question of the day

What do you think of the proposed pension holiday? Politically, does it begin the process of healing relations between the governor and Democratic legislators? Can the guv and Dem legislators successfully defend it? Will anyone care? Do you?

UPDATE: The Tribune apparently cares:

The Democrats late Thursday announced the outlines of a budget agreement that has little to recommend it, except this: They think they can pass it without Republican votes. That may be good for Democrats. It may get them to their Memorial Day parades. But it's bad for Illinois.

But will anyone else really care?

Lots of tort reform stuff

The Chicago Law Bulletin has a story (subscription required) about the medical malpractice legislation which looks at the measure's potential vulnerabilities once it is challenged in court.

Chicago plaintiff attorney Kevin G. Burke of Burke, Mahoney & Wise said the proposal now under consideration was an even more obvious example of special legislation than the 1995 law.

If a doctor who is not an employee of a hospital kills a child, the limit is $500,000; but if the doctor works for the hospital, the limit is $1 million, Burke said. And if it was a bus driver who killed the child, there would be no cap at all, he pointed out.

Yet in all of those cases, the loss to the family is the same, he argued.

And Todd A. Smith, a partner in Power, Rogers & Smith P.C., noted that the Best court went on ''at length'' about the separation of powers argument. Those arguments have not changed, he said.

He also asserted that imposing caps infringes on the right to a jury trial guaranteed in both the state and federal Constitutions, because juries determine damages.

We can expect a legal challenge minutes after the governor signs this thing.

The Sun-Times also has a good story about the caps.

"What has changed is the political climate," said Southern Illinois University law professor William Schroeder. "What has changed is there is a broader awareness of the need for caps. I believe there is a realistic chance that probably by one vote they will uphold this legislation."

Five of the seven justices have changed since the court struck down damage caps. The court's most avid opponent of caps, Moses Harrison, a downstate Democrat, was replaced by Republican Lloyd Karmeier, whose entire campaign was funded by business groups wanting caps.

Still, cap backers would have to pick up one of the four Democrats on the court and hold all three Republicans. The past rulings against caps have been bipartisan.

Cap backers say the crisis is more real this time. And just as Democratic legislators who opposed caps were swayed by constituents whose doctors were leaving the state, so even Supreme Court justices may feel the change, they believe.

And make sure you read this story about a topic referenced in today's Capitol Fax.

Black lawmakers lashed out Thursday against a deal struck earlier this week that would limit jury awards in medical malpractice cases, and warned Gov. Blagojevich not to count on their political support if he goes along with it.

"Sooner or later, the black community is going to rise, and they're going to have to respond to us," said Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago). "I hope the governor thinks about that before signing this legislation. We've got an election next year, so the Black Caucus can be effective in that regard."

"A surefire recipe for... bankruptcy"

Governor Rod Blagojevich's acquiescence to a two-year, $2.2 billion pension holiday - while politically necessary to adjourn the session on time and begin the process of repairing his damaged image - is a gigantic flip-flop.

While speaking of the pension "crisis" during his budget address this past February, here's what the governor said:

Imagine you have a credit card.

Every month, you keep using that card. At the same time, you’re not always paying the balance you owe. In fact, sometimes, you even skip a payment or two.

But you keep using that card to buy new things. So what happens? The principal goes up, the interest rate goes up, and the monthly minimum goes up.

Just paying the monthly minimum takes away the money you need to pay the rent, pay for groceries, for clothes, and for everything else.

Now imagine doing this for 35 years.

For the average family, that’s a surefire recipe for personal bankruptcy. But unfortunately, it’s exactly what the State of Illinois has been doing, year in and year out.

In 1995, the legislature tried to solve the problem by passing legislation to strengthen pension funding. But it didn't work. [...]

In fact, it got a lot worse.

In the spring of 2002, Governor Ryan presented an early retirement package. The legislature was told the cost of the pension benefits would be $600 million. But as it turns out, the real cost to the taxpayers was $2.5 billion – nearly two billion more in pension benefits than what you were led to believe. [...]

In 1995, our state's pension debt stood at $19 billion. By the time I took office in 2003, just eight years later that number had grown to $43 billion. At this rate, if we do nothing to stem the tide by the time we’re done paying our entire pension debt, we will have paid an earth shattering $521 billion – including $220 billion in interest alone. [...]

Now let me be clear, this isn’t just a problem that we should address.

This is a crisis that we must solve.

And we’d better solve it now.

Instead, he now wants to skip half the state's pension payments for the next two years. Hey, I'm thankful for the prospect of no overtime session, don't get me wrong. But I wonder how he'll rationalize this change of heart. [Emphasis added.]

Holidays in the sun

Ever since I heard that the Democrats were planning to do a pension holiday I haven't been able to get this Sex Pistols song out of my head. Maybe running it here will help.

A cheap holiday in other peoples' misery.

I don’t wanna holiday in the sun, I wanna go to the new Belsen.
I wanna see some history
’cause now I got a reasonable economy

Now I got a reason, now I got a reason now I got a reason
and I’m still waiting
Now I got a reason now I got reason to be waiting the Berlin wall

Sensurround sound in a two inch wall,
while I was waiting for the Communist call
I didn’t ask for sunshine and I got World War Three
I’m looking over the wall and they’re looking at me

Now I got a reason, now I got a reason now I got a reason
and I’m still waiting
Now I got a reason, now I got a reason to be waiting the Berlin wall

Well they’re staring all night and they’re staring all day
I had no reason to be here at all
But now I gotta reason it’s no real reason and I’m waiting at the Berlin wall

Gotta go over the berlin wall I don’t understand it.... I gotta go over the wall I don’t understand this bit at all....

Claustrophobia there’s too much paranoia there’s too many closets I went in before
and now I gotta reason, it’s no real reason to be waiting the Berlin wall

I gotta go over the Berlin wall. I don’t understand it....
I gotta go under the Berlin wall, I don’t understand this bit at all...

Please don’t be waiting for me

Memories. Good times. (Comments closed because of potential spamming problems.)

"Miller Men"

Rich, David and Daniel Miller. Not related to them, but they're fine people nonetheless. Pretty funny how little Daniel is pointing at me. "Who the heck is this clown?" I get that a lot.

Quote of the week

Political insider Tony Rezko in the Chicago Tribune:

"Rod is my friend. I believe in what he's doing. I believe he's doing the right thing," Rezko said. "If he asks me, I will help. I will never walk away from friends. You can quote me on that. I don't care. I'll never walk away from friends."

Maybe so. But Rod needs to walk away from him.

Fight underage drinking

(The following is a paid advertisement)

Nearly a third of all sixth-graders – yes sixth graders – have tried an alcoholic drink.

Illinois…has a drinking problem. An underage drinking problem.

Half our teenagers have tried alcohol and their new drink of choice is called an “Alcopop” a Flavored Alcoholic Beverage.

They’re sweet and fruity drinks that contain alcohol.

Alcopops are cheap and preferred by girls. But often result in issues known mostly to women, like pregnancy, date rape, STDs and menstrual problems.

What can Illinois legislators do to protect our kids?

Increased taxes on Alcopops will help reduce underage drinking. Studies show youth respond to price increases.

By preventing underage drinking, we can protect our kids from growing up too soon.

It’s not rocket science. They target kids, we protect them.

Support increased taxes on Alcopops this year.

For more, log on to iadda.org.

A message from the Illinois Alcoholism & Drug Dependence Association.

More pension stuff

The pension holiday idea that I wrote about in the Capitol Fax today has some serious drawbacks, of course. From a Tuesday article in the Champaign News-Gazette:

Every dollar the state shorts the pension systems this year will cost $13 in 2045, Teachers' Retirement System Executive Director Jon Bauman told the General Assembly's Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.

Money invested in the pension systems generally grows at a rate of 8.5 percent a year, said Bob Knox, who runs the retirement systems for state workers, judges and members of the General Assembly.

Since state law requires that the pension systems have enough money on hand by 2045 to cover 90 percent of their obligations, paying less than required now is like borrowing at an interest rate of 8.5 percent, Knox said.

"That's a very expensive form of borrowing," said James Hacking, executive director of State Universities Retirement System. "If you have to borrow, it's cheaper to go to the credit markets and borrow."

The problem with borrowing is that it requires a three-fifths majority. A pension holiday only needs a simple majority to pass, so the Democrats could do it without Republican votes.

Question of the day

The gaming bill - any gaming bill - appears dead this year. A reader suggested that I give you this assignment in lieu of a question of the day:

Concoct your own gaming bill that you think could pass both chambers and be signed into law. Those of you who oppose all gaming bills are free to add your two cents.

But there's a catch. Unlike the General Assembly, you can't criticize someone else's proposal as unworkable unless you come up with your own. All such criticism should be ignored and will eventually be deleted.

Pension stuff

Since my lead story in today's Capitol Fax was about a possible Democratic pension deal that might get the General Assembly out by May 31st, I thought I'd point you toward a good article about the state pension subject from way back in 1993.

Written by Jennifer Halperin for Illinois Issues magazine, it's a long story, but worth the read if you have the time.

One problem, say critics, are early-retirement offerings and their accompanying payouts. While these plans may look like they save money in the immediate future through salary savings, it's important to remember that they add to pension debt. For example, the General Assembly and governor approved an early retirement incentive program for state workers in fiscal year 1992, of which 4,608 employees took advantage. The move saved the state nearly $36 million in salaries, but it placed an extra $231.4 million liability on the pension fund. [...]

"When we were playing games in the '80s, the stock market was so up it almost made up for underfunding," said Fitzgerald in reference to high interest yields the pension systems were getting from their investments. One habit consistently pointed out as devastating to the pension funds began in 1982, when the state stopped contributing enough money to the funds to cover checks going out in the same year. The stock market was doing well, so pension funds' investment income was up. In response, former Gov. James R. Thompson reduced state contributions to less than two-thirds of the 1982 payout to retirees. That practice was supposed to be limited to one year but was not.

"I've made the observation that if the state had been able or willing to fund the pensions more expansively in the early '80s, our asset-to-liability ratio would have been much bigger now," said James D. Nowlan, president of the Taxpayers' Federation of Illinois. "The state did not take advantage of that — but of course that's hindsight." [...]

When the high investment returns of the '80s dropped, the state retirement systems were left without the cushion those returns had provided. Further aggravating the situation is the sweetening of pension deals for future retirees without money set aside to pay for them. Some examples were outlined in the state's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for 1991. During that fiscal year, lawmakers increased pension benefit obligations for the State Employees' Retirement System (SERS), which covers most state employees not eligible for another state-sponsored plan. They added 3 percent annual increases for disability benefits and accidental death annuities. That year lawmakers also hiked the obligation for the State Universities' Retirement System (SURS), approving a new 3 percent post-retirement benefit.

Spinning

House GOP spokesman David Dring talks to the press.

(Photo courtesy of Russ Kimmons.)

BREAKING NEWS

An agreement in principle has been reached on medical malpractice reform between the doctors and the legislative leaders. Details have yet to be worked out, but the deal includes insurance reform and caps on noneconomic damages.

More in tomorrow's Capitol Fax.



Photo of press conference to announce med-mal agreement.

UPDATE: Here is an audio link to the press conference.

Blast from the past

Sometimes, it's helpful to look back.

Originally published in the Almanac of Illinois Politics, 2004.

When Blagojevich quietly formed a state-level political committee in June 2000, he called it the Prairie State Committee. The general purpose stated in the organizing documents gave no hint of a possible run for governor. Early speculation about Democratic challengers to Republican Governor George Ryan in the 2002 election mentioned Blagojevich as an after thought, if at all. Over the next seven months, the Prairie State Committee took in $2.3 million.

The hardest dollars to raise in a political campaign, particularly for a non-incumbent, are the first dollars. Once a candidate reaches a threshold of credibility and organizational strength, fundraising becomes easier, although it is rarely easy. EMILY's List was founded on that principal. [...]

The key sources of early money for the Prairie State Committee are listed in Tables 4 and 5. [...]

The top contributor, at $110,000, is the Clifford Law Offices, one of the top trial lawyer firms in Illinois. Clifford Law Offices has a long history of giving to Democratic candidates in Illinois who are sympathetic to the concerns of trial lawyers in their never-ending battles with the business community and physicians over limits on law suits involving product liability and medical malpractice claims. Next, at more than $105,250, is A. Finkl & Sons, the steel company that employed Blagojevich's father. The third-largest source of contributions, at $80,750, is the political committee and the Chicago ward organization controlled by Chicago Alderman Richard Mell, Blagojevich's father-in-law. Ranking fourth are contributions from firms owned by Christopher G. Kelly, who would later become the finance chairman of the Blagojevich for Governor Committee.

Early, big money from political committees is not surprising, given Blagojevich's roots within his father-in-law's ward organization and his position as a U.S. representative. Nor is money from law firms, particularly trial law firms. What is surprising is the almost complete absence of labor money at this stage of the campaign; the greatest sources of funds are from business interests. Blagojevich raised more money from construction/engineering firms ($366,775) than from political committees ($324,050) and more money from general business interests ($313,535) and finance/insurance/real estate interests ($294,901) than from lawyers and law firms ($214,330).

One of the lessons to be learned from this period is the value of starting early. Increasingly more expensive campaigns take longer to put together. Paul Vallas, the former head of the Chicago school system, finished second to Blagojevich in the Democratic primary in March 2002 by less than 26,000 votes. By the time Vallas had committed to running, Blagojevich had already raised $2.3 million. Ultimately, Blagojevich would spend almost twice as much in the primary as Vallas ($7.5 million to $3.6 million). In many ways Vallas was a more attractive candidate than Blagojevich, but his candidacy failed because he lacked money and organization. Starting early does not mean success, but starting late can be fatal.

The other fundraising lesson is the value of family and friends. One of the rules of politics is that it takes money to raise money. Having Richard Mell's 33rd Ward organization, the fundraising contacts built from a successful congressional campaign, and family ties to a large company provided a solid foundation for the Blagojevich fundraising effort.

Read the whole thing. Good stuff and am glad I re-read it. [All emphasis added.]

UPDATE: I just did a quick check at the Board of Elections site and found that the Prairie State Committee raised $461,980 in its first month, including $35,000 from Dick Mell's ward organization.

Question of the day

Sen. Rick Winkel is revamping the tax swap plan, according to the Champaign News-Gazette:

State Sen. Rick Winkel, R-Urbana, is working with a group of Republican senators to rewrite his school funding reform bill in an attempt to win their votes.

"Over the past week it has become clear that the consensus is that HB 755 is too costly to taxpayers," Winkel said on Monday. [...]

"We want to focus even more on property tax relief, and we are looking for adequate funding for education kindergarten through university."

The hope is to come up with a consensus and draft legislation this week, he said. Winkel said he would then reach out to Democrats to obtain the rest of the needed three-fifths majority.

But HB 755 was already a scaled-back version of the school funding reform bill sponsored by state Sen. Miguel del Valle, D-Chicago, and it is unclear whether enough Democrats will be willing to compromise further.

The question is, do you think anything will pass this spring? And, while we're at it, what do you think of the whole tax swap idea? Please explain.

Sneed scoop

Another good scoop by Michael Sneed:

Our Sunday tip the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board is looking into the case of a Cook County judge who now lives in a house he built one block outside the 14th subcircuit that elected him . . . is growing into an iceberg.

"There are anywhere from 30 to 50 judges who now live outside their subcircuit," said a top legal source. [...]

Word is the judges get elected and then move on to greener pastures outside their subcircuits. [...]

The judges who flee reportedly feel they are entitled to move anyplace within Cook County because they are county judges.

The attorney general's office has been asked to look into the situation, according to Sneed.

Smart move

Good news for taxpayers, bad news for communities that still hold out hope that their facilities will be constructed.

The Blagojevich administration is making plans to sell millions of dollars in unneeded construction materials left over from two scuttled prison projects.

The move, announced Tuesday, came after lawmakers earlier this spring questioned administration officials about why they were warehousing the materials. [...]

(A)dministration officials acknowledged they had continued to make payments on items such as precast prison cells, steel girders, doors, windows, insulation and electrical wiring, all of which had once been needed to build prisons in Hopkins Park and Grayville.

No ethics bill this spring?

The Daily Herald reports that the governor's massive ethics bill will be delayed.

In fact, the plan’s Senate sponsor acknowledged Tuesday there’s little interest in the ideas this spring.

“We’re not going to pass it by the end of this week,” said State Sen. Carol Ronen, a Chicago Democrat. “We’re going to take the summer to be reviewing this.”

Ronen said she still plans to move the plan but needs to make some adjustments. The General Assembly could take it up during its brief November session or even later in January 2006.

A spokeswoman for the governor said Blagojevich’s aides have been meeting with interest groups and lawmakers to try to hammer out details.

It's good to know that the ethics bill may not hold up the adjournment. It's also good to know that the governor is working on a compromise. Maybe he is learning, after all.

Patronage

I've been so caught up in the session that I hadn't noticed this:

[Mayor Daley's] admission of clout in hiring comes three weeks after federal agents swept into city offices as part of a criminal investigation into allegations of extra pay and promotions given to employees in return for political work. [...]

Armed with search warrants, federal agents on April 29 seized personnel records from the Water Management Department and documents from the mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, which controls patronage jobs.

I knew about the raid, but not about what they were looking for.

And this is interesting:

[The mayor's new chief of staff] announced a hiring freeze for certain positions until the new procedures are in place, giving a possible hint of where irregularities have been spotted. The freeze applies to carpenters, plumbers, hoisting engineers, building engineers, building inspectors, truck drivers, administrative and clerical positions, foremen and general foremen.

Money

From a press release:

State Senate Republican Whip and Floor Leader Peter Roskam (R-Wheaton) announced that he has raised over $150,000 in the first 30 days of his campaign to succeed Congressman Henry Hyde. Campaign officials point out that this is significant amount of money considering the strict rules governing federal candidates such as limits on contributions from individuals and prohibiting corporate contributions. This announcement comes on the heels of Roskam winning the key endorsement from DuPage County Republican Chairman Senator Kirk Dillard.

Not bad, but I'd bet most of that was pledged long ago and contingent on Hyde's retirement annoucement.

Question of the day

Considering my lead story in the Capitol Fax today, which reported on a new Topinka poll that had her leading the governor by almost ten points (you have to subscribe to see it), do you think the Republicans will eventually blow their opportunity to win next year?

In other words, is the party still too divided along ideological faultlines and still bickering too loudly over who was and who wasn't a "Friend of George" and still too bitter about the Jack Ryan/Alan Keyes fiasco to ever unite next year against the governor, or whomever the Democratic candidate might be? Is the GOP a hopeless mess? Or is there enough time to heal the wounds?

Gaming idea floated

House GOP Leader Tom Cross comes up with a new school funding idea.

House Minority Leader Tom Cross says he will introduce legislation [this] week that would require the city of Joliet to share half of its casino revenue with local school districts and is considering broadening the proposal to include the cities of Aurora and Elgin. [...]

While the plan, if approved, would cost Joliet about $15 million, Aurora would stand to lose about $6.5 million — half of the roughly $13 million the city collected in tax revenues from the Hollywood Casino last year.

Local municipalities aren't happy, of course.

Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner, however, said the Cross plan is nothing more than "passing the buck."

"It's frustrating," Weisner said. "To me, this is just a bogus approach to dealing with a statewide school funding crisis. It's Mr. Cross' way of trying to pass the state's responsibilities on to the local municipalities."

City officials in Joliet were similarly unenthused, with one councilman, Joe Shetina, calling the plan "really not a good idea."

Cross' candidate lost to Weisner last month, but I'm not sure if this is payback or not.

Message board

The Chicago Defender newspaper has a message board. Still wading through it, but it could be interesting.

Hunkered down?

Consider this, from today's Tribune:

Blagojevich spokeswoman Cheryle Jackson did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday.

And today's Sun-Times:

Spokesmen for Blagojevich did not return more than a half dozen messages over a five-hour span seeking response to the mayor's statement.

A pattern? I don't know. Let's see if I can get a response to something today.

Breaking news

From the State Journal-Register:

Durbin not ready to endorse Blagojevich

Last Updated 5/23/2005 11:49:37 AM

CHICAGO - U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, today did not discourage fellow Democrats from taking on controversy-plagued Gov. Rod Blagojevich in next year's primary election and said he's not endorsing the incumbent at this point.

"Anyone can run for any office," Durbin said at an unrelated news conference in Chicago. "I'm not going to say what's good or bad for the party. I want to make sure that the voters in Illinois have good candidates to vote for."

Asked if he'll endorse Blagojevich, who's expected to run for a second term in 2006, Durbin replied: "I'm not making any endorsement today. What I've said in the past is I've worked with him, I'm looking forward to working with him in the future."

Hat tip to Reason & Common Sense.

Hull house

Another quality home brought to you by River Realty, Inc..

And, no, this isn't an ad. Follow the links.

UPDATE: Comments closed because some of you can't seem to behave.

Hey, CTA!

From BoingBoing:

The Vienna streetcar system (which is excellent, efficient and clean as a whistle) has created an in-city freight service that hauls all kinds of weighty loads around town.

Question of the day

I've asked a question on this topic before, but with the publication of the new Tribune poll, I have to ask it again.

Can Mayor Daley be beaten in 2007? By whom? Explain.

As referenced in today's Capitol Fax

Here is that Tribune poll I wrote about in today's Fax.

While 53 percent of those surveyed said they approve of the job he is doing, it was the worst showing for Daley in similar Tribune polls since he became mayor in 1989. [...]

While 59 percent of white respondents and 56 percent of Hispanics said they approved of his job performance, only 43 percent of African-Americans did. At the same time, four out of 10 black voters said they disapproved of the job Daley was doing.

The racial divide is even more pronounced when it comes to opinion about whether Daley should run again. Nearly 60 percent of white voters said "yes" while 52 percent of blacks said "no." [...]

More than half of respondents said they disapproved of the job he is doing to prevent favoritism and fraud in awarding city contracts. The mayor has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but 57 percent said Daley should be held personally responsible for the contracting irregularities. [...]

More voters than not said that city schools had not improved or have changed for the worse since he became mayor despite his intense focus on revitalizing a school district once put down by federal education officials as the worst in the nation. And a majority of respondents said that the problem of crime has gotten no better or has worsened [...]

the poll found that [Congressman] Jackson would win 40 percent of the vote in a mayoral election held today to Daley's 37 percent, with 23 percent of respondents undecided. [...]

even at 53 percent, his approval rating would be the envy of many other public officials. Another recent Tribune/WGN poll found that Gov. Rod Blagojevich's positive rating has sunk to 35 percent.

Emphasis added. And, once again, why is it that the Tribune hides its full results from its own readers? It's so patronizing.

Feeds moved for now

The news feeds were loading very slowly last night, which was causing the links not to load as well. I've moved the feeds below the links for now and I'll put them back on top as soon as possible.

A little late, but I'm sure he loves it

Valentines Day was two months ago for everyone except the NRA's Todd Vandermyde.

Vandermyde, 40, has been like Rambo at the Statehouse lately. He has had success at beating back gun control legislation for years, but nothing like this year.

Of course, the Trib's editorial page whacked him hard, but I'll bet he loved that almost as much. Todd's just that way. Lord knows, I don't always agree with him, but he's a friend and a good guy, if a bit weird - which is why I probably like him so much.

The goofiness never ends

If somebody else wrote this joke for the governor s/he should be fired as a complete incompetent. If the governor made it up, he should learn to stick to his script.

The emir of Qatar came to Springfield on Tuesday to visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. At the Governor's Prayer Breakfast on Wednesday morning, Blagojevich drew some comparisons between the emir and President George Bush, another head of state who visited the museum.

"They have something in common," said Blagojevich, trying to amuse the audience. "They both come from big oil states. ..." [...]

"But President Bush has only one wife," Blagojevich said.

The emir has three, but who's counting. For that matter, who's laughing? Not many people at the prayer breakfast, that was for sure. Even Blagojevich sensed a faux pas and opined that maybe he shouldn't have said that.

Yep. Presidential timbre.

Sunday column

Since I didn't blog Sunday, except to insert an update on the White Sox post below, I didn't tell you about my column this week, which could be headlined: "I told you so."

Before you read it, if you care to, try to guess when this passage was originally written:

"Rod Blagojevich is a poll-driven, over-handled goofball who can't seem to think on his feet and whose political connections are a bit on the shady side."

The correct answer is in the comments...

Nope & Yep

I talked to Hynes last week, and this specific subject was brought up. Most of the chat was off the record, but I can tell you that this isn't true unless he completely - and I do mean completely - changed his mind in the past few days.

Dem data: Sneed is told popular state Comptroller Dan Hynes' camp is quietly giving thought to Dan jumping into the Dem primary against Gov. Blago. Hmmm.

This, by Crain's political columnist Greg Hinz, is true, however.

In a potential gesture to Mr. Madigan, State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, the early front-runner for the GOP guberna-torial nomination, may announce she'd serve only one term, sources close to her say. That means the Governor's Mansion would be open for Ms. Madigan in 2010.

You'll have to pay a few bucks to read the whole thing.

In through the back door

The Rockford Register-Star publishes the usual half-baked story about blogging, but uses the piece to finally write about Maya Keyes.

Firefox is starting to suck

I recently downloaded Firefox's latest update, which was supposed to patch a security hole, and now the thing is crashing more than IE ever did when I still had one of those GatesCrates. Very, very frustrating. I'm going back to Safari for a while.

Time for a change

Was very tired of that old color and header format. Hope you like the "new look."

UPDATE: Yeah, the image has some compression problems. I'll work on it more later. Time to mow the lawn.

And quit complaining about the green. It stays.

UPDATE 2: OK, I see what you mean now. I was using Safari and Firefox and I couldn't understand why people were talking about the two clashing greens. Used IE and saw what was going on. I'll change it when I'm finished with the lawn.

UPDATE 3: I'm thinking that I'm liking the colors. Tough luck for you if you don't, I suppose. The question I have now is, how does the graphic look? And can anyone help me shrink it without causing compression problems?

UPDATE 4: Goodness gracious this thing has generated a lot of comments. Precious little help, but lots of comments.

However, an anonymous reader did resize the graphic for me and I've uploaded it. Does it look better to you? I can't tell much difference. Another reader has pointed me in the direction to a website, so I'll head there later. Too nice of a day to be playing on the computer.

Friday White Sox blogging

Wanna guess where I'll be next Wednesday night?



They included the answers in the original flier. I thought it would be more sporting to leave them off.

Go Sox.

UPDATE: I'll take two out of three any series. Go Sox.

Question of the day

What do you think of Lt. Governor Pat Quinn's job performance? Has he lived up to your expectations? Do you think the governor should keep him on the ticket?

Not so fast

Most of the people who defend Governor Rod Blagojevich in the comments section here accuse his legions of detractors of being Republicans.

But the comments posted below a Daily Kos news item yesterday about the guv's awful poll numbers are mighty eye-opening. Kos runs a very hardcore Democratic blog, but many, if not most, of the comments yesterday were decidedly anti-Blagojevich.

Go check it out, particularly all of you folks who deride the governor's critics as Republicans masquerading as Democrats.

Tristano backgrounder

This is a newspaper column I wrote in June of 2002. It will give you some background on the Tristano indictment. The column is based on a much longer Capitol Fax, which you can find here.


Crain's Chicago Business has reported that during the summer of 2000, just about everyone at House Republican Leader Lee Daniels' Chicago office was allegedly paid with state money to work on political campaigns. The magazine also documented that several staffers were apparently reimbursed by taxpayers for campaign travel expenses.

This would be illegal, of course. So, I picked up the phone and started calling people who once worked for Daniels. I convinced six to talk.

Their stories were almost identical, and the picture they all painted was ugly. If they are to be believed, and I believe them, then somebody needs to go to jail.

Every one of my sources fears retaliation, even though they no longer work for Daniels. "They put the fear of God in you if you said anything," said one former House GOP staffer. Another likened the job to working for the Mafia.

And most said they were told staff would be blamed if things ever got rough. Sure enough, a few days ago Daniels said he didn't know anything about the allegations and would cooperate with an investigation of staff wrongdoing.

* The Chicago Office - A November, 2001, memo from one of Daniels' top political people pretty much sums up the problems at Daniels' Chicago office - a completely state funded operation.

The memo was sent to then-state Republican Party Chairman Rich Williamson and referred to efforts to fill a vacant GOP state central committee slot. Williamson is advised to call the staffer at Daniels' state office in Chicago.

"The point of the (Chicago) office was to run political campaigns," said one source. "They'd have political meetings there. They used the state computers to print out (precinct) walk sheets."

Another former staffer said election programs were installed on the office's computers.

"They said, 'Here's the campaign you're gonna be working on,' and they send you out and they pay you the way they want to." said one source.

Another source claimed he was "under orders to run a campaign on state time."

* Comp Time - A couple of months ago, I told you that the House Republican state payroll actually increased during the last two months of the 2000 election, while all the other legislative staff payrolls shrank. Part of their excuse was that the staffers were reimbursed for "comp time" - days off in lieu of overtime pay - while they worked campaigns.

Yet all but one of the former staffers (and he left years ago) said comp time at the Chicago office is a fraud.

"I was on staff just two weeks and they gave me ten days' comp time," claimed one former staffer, who said he worked no overtime in those two weeks.

Every source who worked in the Chicago office said, as far as they could tell, overtime was never even tracked. The chief of staff would send them a memo telling them how much comp time they had.

"Comp time would just appear and you'd use it," said another source.

"They'd say, 'We need you to do campaign work for seven days, so we'll give you the comp days to pay for it," explained one.

"There's no overtime at that (Chicago) office," said a different source.

* Vouchers - "I was in a situation where (the campaign) screwed me out of money, so they told me to file vouchers," claims one former staff member.

The staffer had run up several bills that the Daniels campaign fund refused to pay. But the low-paid worker needed the cash, so he was advised to "just say you were gone a little bit longer," on some travel and let the state pick up the tab through travel reimbursements.

"Because they paid you so (poorly), you needed that travel money," said another source, who said they were regularly paid with state money for campaign travel.

"I was asked repeatedly to voucher," for campaign expenses, claimed another source, who said he "put up a fight about it" on a "regular basis."

"Their counter was, 'Calm down, don't worry about it, this is the way things are done, but there's no way you're going to get paid (from the campaign account),'" the source said.

Another former staff member said he also didn't voucher and was under no pressure, but claimed his superiors "would sign anything."

Every former staffer I talked to understood that what they did was against the law. I asked one if that bothered him. "It was my job," he said. "I wanted to run campaigns. I just thought that's the way it was. It's the state of Illinois. It's Chicago."

-30-




By the way, mucho props to attorney Rich Means for doing almost all the investigative work on which Crain's based its reporting. Means is getting married this month so the Tristano indictment is an early wedding present.

Tristano indictment

Here it is.

Tristano indicted

This has been coming for a long time:

A man who served as top aide to a former Republican leader of the Illinois House has been indicted on charges of using state employees for campaign work on state time and steering $1.3 million in taxpayer dollars to benefit a political insider's real estate project.

Michael Tristano, 49, of Glenview was charged with fraud, theft and extortion conspiracy in the nine-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury Wednesday and announced Thursday.

Tristano served as chief of staff to state Rep. Lee A. Daniels, R-Elmhurst, when Daniels was minority leader of the Illinois House. He also was executive director of the House Republican Campaign Committee, which funneled money to GOP election campaigns.

``Using the state payroll to bankroll campaign workers and steering state grants in return for private political benefits is a fraud upon the citizens of Illinois who have a right to expect honest government,'' U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in a statement.

There was no allegation of wrongdoing on the part of Daniels in the indictment.

According to the indictment, Tristano required legislative employees to use their vacations, sick pay and compensating time off to work in political campaigns.

Tristano allegedly made false statements to get state funds for travel expenses that enabled state employees to travel into the districts where candidates he supported were running.

The campaigns were in targeted districts as the two parties fought a fierce battle for control of the Illinois House.

The indictment also said that Tristano conspired with a number of others -- including political consultant Roger Stanley, who was sent to federal prison in the federal investigation of corruption under former Gov. George Ryan -- to get a real estate partnership to find a job for a legislative candidate who was not named in the indictment.

In return for Stanley's finding a job for the candidate, Tristano helped to get a $1.3 million grant for the Village of Willow Springs to buy infrastructure that benefited the partnership, according to the indictment. It said the candidate did little or no work for the partnership but instead spent the time campaigning for a seat in the House.